Slime Evolution

Chapter 15: 15 - Energy

Lohan killed three more Slimes and some smaller insects until his body finally showed signs of hunger and fatigue.

This reminded him of something...

’I haven’t eaten anything today?! I’ve been awake for over 13 hours, how come I’m not feeling hungry?

Looking at the stats screen before logging off to investigate this, Lohan was satisfied.

Having killed 4 more Slimes and other insects since he last looked at the complete statistics, even without looking at the increase in numbers, Lohan knew that he had become much stronger, since he had been farming biomass for over 3 hours and had only reached his body’s limit once.

This was because the new skills and upgrades he received were much greater than the amount he would gain by spending Biomass directly, so he had to use some of the stored biomass to replenish the energy required for these skills and evolve a few more times.

One of these upgrades came not from a Slime, but from a beetle that was in the way and that Lohan rolled over at high speed, only realizing that he had absorbed a more powerful insect after feeling a slight pain from the beetle’s powerful ”bites” and hearing the notification sound he received after a few seconds.

[Reinforced Exoskeleton Lv 1 → Lv 2]

[Consumes Biomass to generate a resistant Exoskeleton around the body.

The upgrade to this Skill that he received by accidentally absorbing a beetle was largely responsible for most of the Biomass consumption that Lohan had achieved in the last few hours.

With the level increase of this skill, his Exoskeleton could become more resistant, but to reach maximum resistance, it was necessary to consume Biomass to reinforce the exoskeleton he already had.

Sure, by killing 4 Slimes and some other smaller insects, Lohan received some skill upgrades that increased his Biomass gain.

[Mass Expansion Lv 2 → Lv 3]

This was Lohan’s second largest consumer of Biomass, increasing his size by another 3 centimeters in diameter, but also increasing Biomass gain by another 30% based on his base value.

[Efficient Digestion Lv 7 → Lv 8]

This increase, coming from another Slime, was a big help, increasing his base value by 10%, which also increased the gain of [Mass Expansion] and [Passive Digestion].

[Instinctive Perception Lv 1 → Lv 2]

[Detects nearby vibrations and movements.]

Strangely, the last Slime did not give Lohan any new skills or skill upgrades, perhaps because the battle process was too simple, or because those slimes were clearly weaker than the first ones he absorbed, or even because the difference in power between him and those Slimes was too great.

Lohan was still unsure about this, but just absorbing the biomass from that Slime was already very profitable for him.

Sure, with his gains accelerating so much, Lohan was not stingy and knew what to invest his surplus biomass in, Skills that he had more difficulty upgrading from other Slimes, such as:

[Passive Digestion Lv 2 → Lv 3]

[The body develops autonomous microprocesses of energy conversion, absorbing traces of mana and matter from the environment. It slowly generates Biomass even at rest.]

For only 4 Biomass, Lohan increased the amount of passive Biomass he constantly gained by 10%, making even his sleep, when he disconnected from Elysium, more ”lucrative.”

With all these upgrades, his Biomass gain had risen in the last few hours from 6.22 Bio/h to 8.38 Bio/h! A total increase of 34%!

Considering the speed he had when he logged in this morning of 2.17 Bio per hour, Lohan marveled at his current speed!

Satisfied with the huge gains he had made that day, with tremendous progress in several areas, Lohan finally logged out.

And it was at that moment that he was able to focus on how strange his hunger was.

Unlike when he first arrived in this world, where he was very hungry after only a few hours without eating, this time he had gone more than 30 hours without eating and his hunger was still at a level that only bothered him slightly...

’What’s happening to me?’ He thought, confused.

’Since I woke up yesterday, I’ve been feeling different... as if my hunger is much more under control...’

Getting out of bed, Lohan walked to the refrigerator, making this strange feeling even more evident.

’I know I’m not used to walking like this, but was this feeling supposed to be so... easy?’ He thought, even more confused, as his movements seemed more fluid, simpler than the other times he had tried. ’Maybe it’s because I’m still getting used to it?’

Preparing another ”meal,” Lohan realized that even the earthy taste of the dirty tap water didn’t bother him that much.

Even though the act of ”eating” was still not pleasant, the feeling of food entering his stomach and nourishing his body was comforting, to the point that the weakness he hadn’t even realized he was feeling slowly disappeared.

”Should I eat another ’meal’?” he wondered, uncertain.

Feeling that the taste wasn’t so bad, and that the feeling of energy that food was giving him was very good, Lohan forced himself to drink another mixture of dirty water and the nutritional powder he had.

Just like last time, the feeling of satiety was very good, to the point that his body seemed even more relaxed.

So satisfied, Lohan didn’t even worry about anything else and lay down on the bed, falling into the realm of dreams in a few minutes.

When he woke up, without any tiredness, Lohan felt renewed on a level he hadn’t felt in years!

The energy in his body was something he couldn’t explain where it came from, so not knowing where to expend this energy, he lowered himself to the floor and started doing some push-ups.

1... 2... 3... 4... 5... 6... 7... 8... 9... ... 10!

He managed to do 10 push-ups without resting!

Looking at his thin and ’malnourished’ body, Lohan found it unbelievable.

Wanting to test these changes further, he started doing sit-ups and squats, managing to do 10 more of each until he reached his body’s limit.

Slowly, small beads of sweat appeared on his skin, while his muscles began to throb, as if they had undergone an intense workout.

But despite the fatigue he felt, which would take several minutes to recover from, in just 60 seconds Lohan felt ready again to do 10 more push-ups, 10 sit-ups, and 10 squats!

This time he really felt that his body was exhausted, not risking doing any more exercises.

Feeling his hunger recede, Lohan ate another meal and lay down on the floor with his Elysium helmet on his head, enjoying these changes, but not wanting to waste too much time thinking about it on the last day of his weekend.

Even though the body was the foundation, Lohan knew that if he didn’t get money at Elysium by the end of the month, a stronger body wouldn’t change anything.